With just over seven minutes to play in Reno, Utah State led by eight points with a chance to take a two-game lead in the Mountain West standings. But in the final stretch, the normally clutch Aggies faltered and lost 80-77 to Nevada.
Heroic offensive performances from the first half-hour of game time gradually disappeared as crunch time rolled around. Drake Allen, soon to become a father, made a career-best five 3-pointers (and was a perfect 5-for-5 to start the game from distance). Kolby King had 16 points with four made triples of his own. MJ Collins hit a trio of 3-pointers. But those three players missed their final 13 shots collectively, Collins going 0 for his last 6, Allen 0 for his last 5 and King missing his final two shots.
The Aggies as a team made 13 threes in the first 23 minutes of the game — most of those by King, Collins and Allen. Those led to Utah State leading for more than 30 minutes of the game and up until the final two minutes. However, those threes dried up as they made only two in the final 17 minutes of regulation. Utah State did fairly well to shift toward points in the paint, getting Mason Falslev (10 points) and Karson Templin (11 points) more involved, but simply lacked the thing that made the offense tick in the first half.
“(Nevada) did a good job really taking them away. They did a good job running us off the line, really rushing the shot at the end,” Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “I still think we got a lot of open looks, but you got to give (Nevada) credit.”
As Utah State’s offense trailed off, the Wolf Pack were able to bully its way into the paint against a foul-happy Aggie defense, ultimately taking 27 free throws, 20 of which came in the second half. Two of the Aggies’ starters, Collins and Zach Keller, played limited minutes due to foul trouble (Keller just four minutes and Collins only 21). Templin fouled out in the final minute of the game.
Despite all of these struggles, Utah State was in the game late, with Nevada never going up by more than four points at any stage in the second half. But mistakes were made on numerous fronts that kept a ninth consecutive win just out of reach.
Templin had two late trips to the free throw line in which he could have tied the game. The first was with Utah State trailing 75-73 and he hit the first free throw but missed the second. King then fouled Nevada guard Corey Camper on the rebound, giving free throws to Nevada. But even after the Aggies got lucky and the nearly-80%-free-throw-shooting Camper split his attempts, Utah State took two steps back in the luck department.
Firstly, King bobbled a pass on the perimeter, prompting Calhoun to quickly call timeout. Those lightning-quick timeout reflexes proved to be for the worse, however. In the brief moments spanning Calhoun asking for time and the referees reacting and granting that timeout, King gathered the ball, beat his defender and hit a layup that ought to have tied the game at 76-all.
When asked after the game about the decision to call that timeout, Calhoun didn’t want to boil down the loss to one play or mistake by anyone. He also referenced the three turnovers made by King.
“The bottom line is it’s not about a timeout, it’s not about one possession, it’s the overall body of work, right?” Calhoun said. “If we don’t call a timeout, he makes it. Who knows what could have happened? Honestly, if Kolby made better decisions throughout the game, I probably wouldn’t have called that timeout.”
In our reality, and not the coulda-woulda-shoulda realm, Templin was fouled after the quick break following him grabbing an offensive rebound from his own missed hook shot. This marked his second trip to the charity stripe in as many possessions but it ended worse than the first. Since the foul was on the ground, it was a one-and-one and Templin missed the first shot and the Aggies went scoreless despite two high-quality chances to tie the game up with 32 seconds to play.
But wait, there were still even more ways in which Utah State nearly salvaged this game and still came up short.
With 17 seconds left, after Nevada hit a pair of free throws to make it a four-point game, 78-74, Falslev hit a desperate 3-pointer in the corner. And although Nevada re-extended its lead with free throws after a take foul, it was just a three point margin, 80-77. But despite MJ Collins getting two looks from three, the game-tying points never came.
Although clearly bothered by a few aspects of his team’s performance — including a Calhoun was rushed in the postgame (he wanted to get the team back home so Allen could be there for the birth of his son), he took an overall positive outlook.
“That one stings. But, you know, being three and one against them in two years is pretty big, big accomplishment. Swept them last year, split this year, certainly wanted to sweep them this year,” Calhoun said.
The bigger message is what lies ahead. Utah State leads the Mountain West by one game over San Diego State with four games remaining in the regular season. The Aggies also remain a heavy favorite to be in the NCAA Tournament, with as high as a six of seven seed still possible according to bracketologists.
“There’s a lot at stake. Can’t get discombobulated. Got to stay together down the stretch and can’t question anything,” Calhoun said. “You got to stay together. That’s the real message is stick together and better outcomes will come.”
Utah State will make a brief stop back in Logan, but will be on the road almost immediately as it will travel back to the Pacific time zone for a meeting with San Diego State. The Aztecs were one of several teams in the top half of the Mountain West standings, along with the Aggies and Grand Canyon, to take losses in games they were favored in. San Diego State lost on the road to Colorado State, meaning the matchup between the second-place Aztecs and first-place Aggies will be a battle of powerhouses that are both coming off a loss.
